Wanted: Colonist Engineering Lead

Working Hours: We work asynchronously and value outcomes over hours

Location: Fully Remote, Anywhere in the world

Compensation:

Competitive salary paid in USD.
Negotiable range based on experience and location
Stock (own a piece of Colonist)

About Colonist

We're building the biggest digital board game platform on the internet. Last year, our players spent 2,466 years playing 45 million games on our Settlers of Catan alternative. We're a fully remote, asynchronous team spread across multiple continents, focused on crafting extremely polished digital board games that people truly love.

About The Role

As a Engineering Lead at Colonist, your mission is to own our increasing technical complexity by making sound architectural decisions, improving development processes, and raising the technical bar across the organization. This is a high-impact leadership role for someone who thrives on systems thinking, architectural clarity and positively impacting millions of players.

What You’ll Do

Architect a unified codebase for multi-platform and multi-game support, ensuring seamless functionality across Web, Mobile, Discord, and Steam
Expand and scale the codebase to support multiple game titles efficiently
Evolve our TypeScript + Node.js + React + WebSocket systems for scalability, maintainability, and performance
Shape our system design and infrastructure direction with long-term clarity in mind
Identify and remove bottlenecks in CI/CD, testing, and deployment reliability
Mentor team members and help them reach mastery
Raise technical standards by ensuring code quality, best practices, and documentation are maintained across projects
Build and maintain a high-performing team
Translate company and product goals into clear engineering plans and deliverables
Strengthen our engineering values, encourage ownership, and scale a culture of continuous learning

Requirements

7+ years of professional software development experience
Proven experience leading or managing engineers
Deep expertise in TypeScript, React, Node.js, and WebSocket systems
Strong understanding of system architecture, scalability, and maintainability
Experience improving CI/CD pipelines, release processes, and team workflows
Clear, structured written communication (async collaboration is our norm)
Demonstrated ability to mentor and coach others
Proven ability to elevate software development teams' technical standards
Strong judgment and decisiveness under uncertainty

Nice to Have

Experience in real-time multiplayer or game backend systems
Open-source contribution or technical community engagement
Background in remote-first or async teams

Our Values at Colonist

We strongly adhere to these values in our team - if these resonate, then you’ll love working here!

Dependability

We're self-driven players who deliver without needing supervision. When we commit to something, we make it happen.

Ownership

We take full responsibility and go beyond our roles to improve Colonist. Each of us acts like we own the company, because through our stock options, we do.

Clear Communication

In our remote environment, written communication is key. We're direct, structured, and always keep our team in the loop.

Efficient Execution

We move fast and focus on impact. Instead of getting stuck on perfect solutions, we find practical ways forward and get things done.

Continuous Learning

We're curious problem solvers who love a challenge. We constantly seek new ideas, embrace feedback, and aren't afraid to change our minds when we're wrong.

Benefits and Compensation

Compensation

Competitive salary paid in USD
Stock (own a piece of Colonist)

Benefits

Fully remote team spread across multiple time zones
Flexible hours, we work asynchronously and value outcomes over hours
Unlimited vacation
Yearly offsite
Work equipment provided
Monthly budget for productivity tools

Growth

Work directly impacts 5M+ yearly active players
Rapid learning opportunities
Work with exceptional colleagues on challenging projects
Freedom to identify and solve problems
Access to all company metrics and discussions
Expect deep work and autonomy with clear expectations and accountability

Engineering Lead